Bingo in New Mexico
New Mexico has a stormy gambling past. When the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act was signed by the House in 1989, it seemed like New Mexico would be one of the states to cash in on the American Indian casino craze. Politics assured that wouldn’t be the case.
The New Mexico governor Bruce King appointed a task force in Nineteen Ninety to create an accord with New Mexico Native bands. When the task force arrived at an accord with two important local tribes a year later, the Governor declined to sign the bargain. He would hold up a deal until 1994.
When a new governor took over in Nineteen Ninety Five, it seemed that American Indian gaming in New Mexico was now a certainty. But when the new Governor signed the contract with the Amerindian bands, anti-gambling forces were able to hold the accord up in courts. A New Mexico court ruled that Governor Johnson had overstepped his bounds in signing the compact, thereby costing the state of New Mexico many hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing fees over the next several years.
It took the Compact Negotiation Act, passed by the New Mexico legislature, to get the process moving on a full contract between the State of New Mexico and its Indian tribes. 10 years had been burned for gambling in New Mexico, which includes Indian casino Bingo.
The nonprofit Bingo industry has increased from 1999. That year, New Mexico non-profit game operators acquired just $3,048. This number grew to $725,150 in 2000, and passed one million dollars in revenues in 2001. Non-profit Bingo earnings have grown steadily since that time. Two Thousand and Five saw the biggest year, with $1,233,289 grossed by the operators.
Bingo is categorically favored in New Mexico. All sorts of operators try for a bit of the pie. Hopefully, the politicians are done batting over gambling as a hot button factor like they did in the 90’s. That’s most likely hopeful thinking.
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